Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A song of David written during the time he was running from his son Absalom.
3 Lord, I have so many enemies.
So many people have turned against me.
2 They say to themselves, “God will not rescue him!” Selah
3 But you, Lord, protect me.
You bring me honor;
you give me hope.
4 I will pray to the Lord,
and he will answer me from his holy mountain. Selah
5 I can lie down to rest and know that I will wake up,
because the Lord covers and protects me.
6 So I will not be afraid of my enemies,
even if thousands of them surround me.
7 Lord, get up![a]
My God, come rescue me!
If you hit my enemies on the cheek,
you will break all their teeth.
8 Lord, the victory[b] is yours!
You are so good to your people. Selah
5 “Wine can trick a person. In the same way a strong man’s pride can fool him, but he will not find peace. He is like death—he always wants more and more. And, like death, he will never be satisfied. He will continue to defeat other nations and to make those people his prisoners. 6 But soon enough, all those people will laugh at him and tell stories about his defeat. They will laugh and say, ‘It’s too bad that the man who took so many things will not get to keep them! He made himself rich by collecting debts.’
7 “Strong man, you have taken money from people. One day they will wake up and realize what is happening, and they will stand against you. Then they will take things from you, and you will be very afraid. 8 You have stolen things from many nations, so they will take much from you. You have killed many people and destroyed lands and cities. You have killed all the people there.
9 “Look at you people! You get rich by cheating people, and it hurts your own family! You build your houses high on the cliffs to protect yourself from danger. 10 You planned shameful things, and that will bring shame to your own family. You have done wrong, and it will cost you your life. 11 The stones of the walls will cry out against you. Even the wooden rafters[a] in your own house will prove that you are wrong.
God’s Children Win Against the World
5 The people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah are God’s children. Anyone who loves the Father also loves the Father’s children. 2 How do we know that we love God’s children? We know because we love God and we obey his commands. 3 Loving God means obeying his commands. And God’s commands are not too hard for us, 4 because everyone who is a child of God has the power to win against the world. 5 It is our faith that has won the victory against the world. So who wins against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
We Have Eternal Life Now
13 I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God. I write so that you will know that you have eternal life now. 14 We can come to God with no doubts. This means that when we ask God for things (and those things agree with what God wants for us), God cares about what we say. 15 He listens to us every time we ask him. So we know that he gives us whatever we ask from him.
16 Suppose you see your fellow believer sinning (sin that does not lead to eternal death). You should pray for them. Then God will give them life. I am talking about people whose sin does not lead to eternal death. There is sin that leads to death. I don’t mean that you should pray about that kind of sin. 17 Doing wrong is always sin. But there is sin that does not lead to eternal death.
18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe.[a] The Evil One cannot hurt them. 19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding. So now we can know the one who is true, and we live in that true God. We are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and he is eternal life. 21 So, dear children, keep yourselves away from false gods.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International